Brickstamp, Portus Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN1872.1511.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN1872.1511 AshLI 208 Coll. Ref: 27 Roman catalogue: 391

A circular, orbicular stamp (0.098), slightly damaged. The large orbiculus (0.039), extending into the centre of the stamp, has a small circular hollow in its centre. Brick: 0.12+ 0.107+ 0.022+

There are two lines of letters around the edge of the stamp, running in concentric circles. In the centre is the image of a caduceus, flanked on either side by a palm branch. There is a ligature in line 1.

0.011 (line 1); 0.01 (line 2). According to Lanciani (1868: p.175), it was one of many such stamps found in the southern part of the ‘palazzo imperiale’/ ‘imperial palace’ at Portus (cf. Thylander 1952: p.438 B387.4). AD 161-68 (CIL). This brickstamp is part of a collection of brickstamps from Rome, Ostia, and Portus given to the Ashmolean by J.H. Parker, Keeper of Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum (1870-84), after a visit to Rome in the winter months of 1871/2. It is currently in store. Photograph Photograph Photograph
ex praedis Luci Veri Augusti opus do liare Cai Nunidi Felicis

From the estate of Lucius Verus Augustus. Brick product of Gaius Nunidius Felix.

Officinator C. Nunidius Felix had worked at brickyards belonging to Lucius Verus before he became emperor in AD 161 (Bloch 1938: p.275; Bodel 1983: p.43). The stamps belong to an Antonine phase of alterations to the ‘palazzo imperiale’.

Lanciani 1868: p.175; Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities MS Accession Register 1872.1511(27); CIL XV 737, 3 (from an impression sent by Waldstein) (Dressel 1891); Bloch 1938 : p.280

Online: EDCS-34500071 [accessed 02/04/15]

Bloch H. 1938 I bolli laterizi e la storia edilizia romana Rome C. Colombo Bodel J. 1983 Roman Brick Stamps in the Kelsey Museum Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press Lanciani R. 1868 Ricerche topografiche sulla città di Porto Annali dell’ Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica 40 144-95 ThylanderH. 1952 Inscriptions du port d’Ostie Lund Gleerup